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Topic: DPReview 5D3 review out (Read 18859 times)

I find it weird that when using the camera comparison, the 5d mkII is rated way better in video mode than the mkIII. I was under the impression that the mkIII is a step up in every way from the mkII in video. They also gave the mkII the nod for raw and jpeg image quality, as well as the exact same scores for build and handling, which contradicts their own review. Seems weird to me.

But the Mk3 got spanked in a few important areas - jpg detail, and movie quality - since Amazon has taken over DPR their reviews have deteriorated.

Speaking of spanking, where was the once feared DP-Review blowtorch when it comes to the two other great unmentionables: 1. The Rate button not being freed up to more useful custom settings in Custom Controls2. The big hairy elephant in the room; the baffling black focus point issue.

Yes DPR has got a bit soft which is a shame. Watch DPR's independent credibility gradually slide away. The fearless standing up to major manufactures is now in the past...an unfortunate Amazon era reality. Who loses? We do.

Even so, it's a good review with few surprises that has it's strongest suit as a user guide for new 5D3 owners.

In a sign of their political awareness, the 5D3 scored the same (82%) as the D800.

I'll let the fanboys comment on individual aspects of the review. As far as I have been able to tell, both cameras succeed in taking pictures.

It is clear that they chickened-out, did not want to involve themselves in brand war given they are owned by Amazon.com. The result was 'cooked' to be equal with D800. In the cons section, they practically hammered the 5DM3 indirectly and goes against results gathered by individual reviews.

But the Mk3 got spanked in a few important areas - jpg detail, and movie quality - since Amazon has taken over DPR their reviews have deteriorated.

Speaking of spanking, where was the once feared DP-Review blowtorch when it comes to the two other great unmentionables: 1. The Rate button not being freed up to more useful custom settings in Custom Controls2. The big hairy elephant in the room; the baffling black focus point issue.

Yes DPR has got a bit soft which is a shame. Watch DPR's independent credibility gradually slide away. The fearless standing up to major manufactures is now in the past...an unfortunate Amazon era reality. Who loses? We do.

Even so, it's a good review with few surprises that has it's strongest suit as a user guide for new 5D3 owners.

Paul Wright

I'm afraid that you're right, DPR's reviews are getting to be a bit "by the book" run-throughs of features, rather than the critical assessments of handling and performance that they used to be. On the one hand, it does feel like there's slightly less of the Nikon bias that the site once had, but at the same time there is less highlighting of annoying issues. Either digital cameras are becoming more mature with fewer glaring faults, or DPR doesn't want to run down products that their owner (Amazon) sells...

Its interesting that when doing a direct comparison to the 7D the metering and focusing accuracy and the ergonomics and handling are rated much higher than the 5D3. When the 5D3 is very similar in handling if not I would say better, and with the better metering I would say the 5D is better there too.

Technically the D800 has a higher score if you sum and average all the bars, but apparently that's not how DP review calculates the overall score...very strange...or maybe they weren't willing to deal with the amount of fanboy mail from angry canon people that are too inmature to accept these are just tools? I guess giving both the same score is the most logical choice. Or maybe it would be best to take the score out from every camera since it is clearly fudged to tell people what they want to hear.

But regardless, this pretty much matches my own experience with the D800 having ACTUALLY USED one for several weeks now. I know, crazy idea, considering I can fully evaulate the D800 by reading to message boards and seeing 100% crops right .

Both are very close but at the end of the day choice comes down to the personal needs and expectations of each photographer. In my case, a mere 2 fps and a few more ISO stops which are barrely up to my standard of usable just aren't enough to keep me with canon. Not to mention the soft video output and lack of 4:2:2 output of the 5DmkIII was a huge letdown.

I'll be looking forward the 5Dmk4 and D900 to address the remaining weak points of each camera. For now, I got 3 years of D800 images ahead of me.

A very good and thorough review. A few things I did see, on the dr tests, if you turn off ALO for canon and the Nikon equivalent, the DR is pretty much equal with each other. Secondly a Pentax and the 7d scored better than both the 5d3 and the d800 which raises some eyebrows. I understand everything is based off each other, supposedly, and the 7d was groundbreaking at the time, but, to say the 7d is better than the 5d3.... A stretch

A very good and thorough review. A few things I did see, on the dr tests, if you turn off ALO for canon and the Nikon equivalent, the DR is pretty much equal with each other. Secondly a Pentax and the 7d scored better than both the 5d3 and the d800 which raises some eyebrows. I understand everything is based off each other, supposedly, and the 7d was groundbreaking at the time, but, to say the 7d is better than the 5d3.... A stretch

From what I read, I think that the graphs on DPR are based upon jpeg output, which would not give you a true impression of the D800's legendary ability to recover shadow detail.

Oh, those crazy 5D3 people. Another server on the verge of collapse because of apparent overwhelming interest. I just died several times over a 15 minute period to see their review of the Canon %D Mark III and I get as message that the server can't handle the present volume try again later. De ja vu, all over again.

Logged

Happy owner of the 5D Mark IV, 24-105 f/4L and other L & third party lenses

I personally don't care how many points each camera gets. However, reviews should be fair and honest.

I believe the 5d3 has a much better screen - even Nikon people say that. High ISO is also better on the 5d3. Video (when tested by proper videographers) is a win for 5d3. Most seem to say that the ergonomics (ie. how the body feels in the hand) is better on the 5d3 too. In fact one Nikon guy I know said he'd take his d3x to a wedding next time as it made his hand ache.

I don't have an issue with any of the other points.

In the end, we all know the capabilities of both cameras inside and out now.

A very good and thorough review. A few things I did see, on the dr tests, if you turn off ALO for canon and the Nikon equivalent, the DR is pretty much equal with each other. Secondly a Pentax and the 7d scored better than both the 5d3 and the d800 which raises some eyebrows. I understand everything is based off each other, supposedly, and the 7d was groundbreaking at the time, but, to say the 7d is better than the 5d3.... A stretch

From what I read, I think that the graphs on DPR are based upon jpeg output, which would not give you a true impression of the D800's legendary ability to recover shadow detail.

Could be... Their page doesn't specify raw or jpeg... Looking at it again, it wasn't ALO, it was HTP for canon (my bad) and ADL for nikon... turning both off makes it pretty much equal and turning them on, (high for nikon) gains them 1-2 stops extra shadow detail while on the opposite side, canon gains an extra stop of highlight detail. In theory, jumping on the assumption that they are both raw, or both jpeg or both the same output type, the nikon would have half to a full stop more DR than canon, not the 2+ stops that Dx0 suggests, however eitherway doesn't make a bit of difference to me. If you get confirmation either way on what file type they used, feel free to post later on. As to phildrinkwater, i tend to agree with your observations in contrast to DPR's conclusions, but in the end it is what it is... It's a mix of objective and subjective findings and I think overall other than their jpeg findings, they were happy with what they got to test out.

Its interesting that when doing a direct comparison to the 7D the metering and focusing accuracy and the ergonomics and handling are rated much higher than the 5D3. When the 5D3 is very similar in handling if not I would say better, and with the better metering I would say the 5D is better there too.

More reason to think that things are is slipping.

I tried comparing it to the T3i and found the T3i won in several areas... I don't think that is the case. If so then the 5D3 is grossly overpriced.